Table 4.

Activities described to worsen aspects of eudaimonic well-being.

	Most frequent subthemes (≥ 5% mentions)	Sample extract from interviews
Decrease in
Autonomy                8 mentions	Sense of obligation to the dog (4; 50.0%)  Lack or little control over the dog (2; 25.0%)  Maintenance of the dog (1; 12.5%)  Looking after the dog—general routine (1; 12.5%)	"I feel constrained sometimes. So, if I wanted to go on holiday, or be out to visit somewhere else, I would feel that I have to come back for the dogs. And it's not always practical to take them with me, particularly not far on holiday, because I've got three of them." P10
Environmental mastery                    5 mentions	Lack of or little control over the dog (2; 40.0%)  Sense of obligation to the dog (1; 20.0%)  Sensory related (1; 20.0%)  Unruly behaviours (1; 20.0%)	"She just doesn't walk very well on the lead[…]sometimes she'll pull so hard that it really hurts me. […] We've got a kind of Halti head harness now for her, which makes things slightly easier […], but sometimes she can get it off. So it goes from feeling like I've mastered my environment to feeling like incredibly stressed and I just want to go home" P1
Personal growth      3 mentions	Lack of or little control over the dog (2; 66.7%)  Death of dog, possibility of dog dying (1; 33.3%)	"You could actually say personal growth […]. It's like a scolded child syndrome […] So, as a parent, the dog is not listening to me, he is not doing as he is told. That's not acceptable." P24
Positive relations with others            17 mentions	Contact with other people while out with the dog (6; 35.3%)  Exercise with the dog (3; 17.6%)  Fearful/aggressive behaviours (2; 11.8%)  The presence of the dog (2; 11.8%)  Meet other people to do dog activity (1; 5.9%)  Interactions on social media (1; 5.9%)  Tactile interactions initiated by the dog (1; 5.9%)  Tactile interactions initiated by the owner (1; 5.9%)	"I occasionally meet a person with a dog and they've got them on a lead. It's usually a small fluffy thing that travels in a handbag. And they can get very worried because my dogs are off the lead, and some of them got quite aggressive and quite verbally abusive. And that's not a positive relation with others." P35
Purpose in life          1 mention	Death of dog, possibility of dog dying (1; 100%)	"And then when he passed away, which I suppose you put it into purpose of life. It was one of the most devastating things I've ever had to deal with. And I'm still reeling even yet, like two years later, because he had an impact on me." P26
Self-acceptance         4 mentions	Lack of or little control over the dog (4; 100%)	"And you feel bad as a teacher, as a trainer, you know[…] I have not trained him well enough. Why is he not coming? Why are you being belligerent when I've asked you to come?" P24

The numbers next to the subthemes indicate the number of times (and percentage) a subtheme was reported to generate the respective well-being outcome.